This lady is real. This Nun is experienced. This teacher is personal.
When I found out she was offering an online retreat called "Making Friends With Your Mind," I started figuring out how I could re-arrange my weekend classes so I could attend all of the sessions... and then I realized, "I don't have to cancel, I just have to share." That's right, this is so important I was thinking of canceling classes. Instead, I'd like to share it with you. For the description and schedule this weekend, Friday 2 October through Sunday 4 October check out the event page here. Attend by sending me an email (link on that page) and consider making a donation that will be sent with all donations collected this weekend at Badlands Yoga to thePema Chodron Foundation's support of Nuns in the Himalayas. Out of town? Check out eOmega.org and sign up for yourself. Share with your friends! What do you think of her analogy to shoes for the heart in the video above? There's a lot terrific about the world (just check out our Gratitude Jar!), but we're wired to notice the lousy bits with greater intensity. But what if the lousiness has to do with our approach? What if we were in complete control of that? What if we're all already okay? What if you're already whole, basically good and at home? How would that change the way you live? How can that change the way we share? Leave a comment to join the conversation below...
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When you remember your last yoga practice, what images do you have?
Do you remember the feeling of being in the poses? So well you could recreate the pose? Or do you have in mind an image of your teacher or the person next to you or the screen from which you were practicing? When you turn your senses inward (pratyahara) you begin to register not only how the poses make you feel and how having practiced yoga makes you feel all day, but you remember the poses in your body. While for some, it may take an extra moment to process spoken instructions without a demo, it's worth that moment and effort, at least for a percentage of practices. That moment, that "extra" moment... that's the moment of dropping in and inhabiting your body. Yoga is defined by the 8 limbs outlined by Patanjali in the Sutras, the work that all lineages acknowledge. 2 of these limbs are "focus" and "concentration" which, together with "flow", make up "samyama" - or meditation. Have you ever heard your teacher encourage you not to compare yourself to the next person, to focus on your own mat? Rather than looking around to see if you're "doing it right," listen and feel how it feels in your body. When you listen, you listen. You focus and you focus on your body in space, engaging parts of your body that may have forgotten how to engage. Listen for at least one practice a week. See how it changes your practice and your day. Share your experience in a comment below and join the movement! Yin Yoga works differently than more vigorous forms of yoga and targets different tissues in the body - the fascia. You've seen fascia before if you've prepared meat for eating; it's the white-ish, tougher layer surrounding the chicken breast or other portion of animal muscle. You have it, too. Yin poses are longer and focus on releasing effort, working with intense sensation and a cooling breath, generally through the mouth. It's a very meditative practice and is great for getting ready for seated meditation as well as a good night's sleep. from a recent email responding to someone interested in fascia: Fascia are the layers of connective tissue covering and connecting muscles. In normal function there is fluid that lubricates the muscles moving within these sheaths. The fascia is a different kind of tissue than muscle - more like cartilage than like muscle - so it responds to a different kind of treatment and movement. Fascia is effected by long, slow forces of stretch and compression in a cool environment - think braces on teeth, while muscle responds to fast, hot, repetitive motion. My favorite analogy is that fascia respond like teeth do: when you want to the change the alignment of teeth, you don't wiggle them back and forth every day (like lifting a weight). You apply braces and make small changes over time. In addition, the liquid that lubricates the muscles' glide within the fascia can become stagnant with sedentary lifestyles, rest after surgery or even after a night's sleep. A morning routine and proper hydration are enough to address the night's sleep, but more dedication and patience are required after weeks, months or years instead of hours. Yin Yoga specifically targets the fascia. I use yin poses at the beginning of each of my classes and teach a whole hour of it on Friday evenings. Want to feel how your body's connected, effect transformation on another level, slow down, work on your meditation seat or break through a plateau? Yin may be just what you're looking for. Here are a few poses below. Want more? Sign up for Inspire Newsletter at the right and email me back when you receive your first missive. I'll send you a 5 page .pdf I used in an Intro to Yoga Class. Plus, here's Bernie Clark's youtube channel, where he posts great videos. He's the founder of this non-trademarked style and teacher of and with Paul Grilley (from whom I first heard the orthodontic analogy) and Sarah Powers (from whose Yin Yoga Workshop at the 2011 SF YJ Conference I benefitted greatly). Sankalpa: Relate to Your Intentions Differently This Year for Profound, Organic Transformation12/31/2014 "You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny." - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. A brand new, fresh year. Someone told me yesterday that they love January because everything seems so possible for him. Here in the deep, dark of winter we make time for one last hurrah on New Year's Eve (even if that's just watching a ball drop or clinking glasses with sparkling water before going to bed at 10pm) and then wipe the proverbial slate clean as we awaken the next morning. But what slate? What's changed? People make resolutions every year and a dismal number are still connected to them just 6 weeks later at Valentines. Often we imagine that by saying something, maybe buying a new pair of shoes or equipment, we can squeeze our eyes shut real tight, ball up our fists and click our heels three times to arrive where we said we wanted to go. But what if we had more important places to go? What if the thing we chose was really just the tip of the ice berg - or even a distraction from the root of what we intended to change? More importantly, What if you're already whole and complete? If you're already whole (spoiler alert: you are.) then the best thing you can do is connect to your deepest driving desire, your heartfelt desire, and plant that seed in the nurturing soil of your embodied consciousness, visit it often and allow for organic transformation over time. A year is a good span to live with. You have a two step plan to get started, but don't worry, you'll enjoy these steps. You can rinse and repeat often over time, and here's the kicker: you'll want to. Step One: Practice Yoga Nidra 61 points relaxation with enough time after to rest and listen to your heart, body, wisdom, journal if that's your thing. The deepest driving desire, your heartfelt truth may arise as a feeling, words, images. Just listen. Whatever you come up with - and if it seems like nothing, that's okay - you can't do this wrong - state it positively. Whatever is true "I am whole." "I am relaxed and open to new experience." "I am listening." These are simply examples, the possibilities are endless. Step Two: Come back another time, remembering your expression of your heartfelt truth. Repeat Yoga Nidra 61 points and silently repeat your heartfelt truth in the stillness you've created through the practice. A Sankalpa is more than a wish, a resolution or a petition. Rather than imposing a goal on your life, you allow a deep longing, heartfelt truth, to arise and then you actually pay attention to it. In listening, you commit to taking actions that this longing calls you to. The heart center - the place where people rest their hand organically when making a decision, where joy can sometimes be felt as a leap and loss can feel like an actual cavern - is called "Anahata" in Sanskrit: unstruck. Like a bell. Like your original nature before the ups and downs of this life gave you habits and grooves, armor and vices. Like you. Connecting to this sense of original self, a self without agendas or pretensions, is a matter of peeling back layers, in yoga and Sanskrit called "Koshas." Think of these as layers of how we learn to relate to ourselves. In Sanskrit, from the first to connect to to the final, here's what they're called and what it means:
You can turn them into questions to guide your practice and, in Yoga Nidra, you can bring them into awareness and learn how to deeply listen for your deepest driving desire, your heartfelt truth, that thing that lies under all the other things. In January we'll be working with the questions in classes, they're very simple and you can use them at home and in other activities:
Yoga Nidra can be practiced alone or after practice and we'll be approaching it in Savasana often this month through the 61 points practice. Technically, Yoga Nidra is the state of mind and the practice is a method for creating it, though people often use the term "Yoga Nidra" to refer to the practices that can lead to it. There are many recordings you can use to guide you in the 61 points practice and sustaining awareness in the stillness it creates. You'll receive a free Yoga Nidra Guided Imagery Meditation when you sign up for the newsletter at the top right and you can use this to get started. We'll use this during New Year's Day YinYasative Celebration as well as the Restorative Workshop on Saturday, when we'll have plenty of time to take this journey twice in a restful, supported, even pampered environment. We'll practice a version at the end of most January classes.
Leave a comment and share how your experience with 61 Points Practice or Yoga Nidra and inspire others! Meditation for everyone.Metta meditation is a method of practice, Buddhist in origin, that focuses the mind on repetitive phrases aimed at contemplating and creating compassion.
"May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be filled with and surrounded by loving-kindness. May you be free." "Metta" is often translated as "loving-kindness," a hybrid of abiding presence and a kind heart. To engage in this practice you find your position - seated, supine,walking, focus the mind on the breath, and begin to repeat the phrases out loud or silently. The first round (a matter of repetitions or minutes) replaces the "you" above with the name of an uncontroversially good person: the Dalai Lama, Jesus, Mother Teresa or the like. Someone it's easy to wish good for. The next round you move to focusing on a neutral to good person: the mail carrier, a cashier or even just some kindly seeming person you passed on the sidewalk. Then you move to someone more difficult: you can pick someone you just don't have warm fuzzies for or someone truly challenging for you. Then you move to the hardest of all: yourself. "May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be filled with and surrounded by loving-kindness. May I be free." Then you conclude by moving back to your easy person. I was practicing with the phrases the other day. When I moved to making myself the object, the phrases that seemed so declarative, so clearly surrounded their object with positivity and grace... suddenly turned into questions. "I don't know, may I? Dare I? Can I?" And so I returned my attention to the phrases and my breath. I made the questions coming up the object of curiosity and continued with the phrases, with my breath. The questions broke open something that had long been scared, feeling judged and unworthy. The focus on the phrases and my breath brought equanimity, and with it courage. To dare. or how do "How you do it" meditations work.Last month I posted the first half of a list of “How you do it” meditations, explored more deeply in the “Meditation for Busy People” Workshop. Since that workshop is being repeated in October, I thought I’d dive a little deeper. How do “How you do it” mini-meditations work? A “How you do it” meditation is simply turning your daily activities into meditations. After all, meditation is to prepare us for life, so taking our meditative mind off the mat extends the sphere of our cushion. These kinds of meditation have at least three advantages: first, you can plan triggers that remind you in the middle of your crazy day to shift perspective (for instance, breath meditation at stop lights); second, you can build that bridge from cushion to car (where you practice habits has an effect on how deeply they change you); and finally you can score some meditation even on days that start too early to even stop for breakfast and end so late you can only topple into bed (regularity is part of the power of practice). But what makes these mini-meditations work? You may have noticed that if all you do for a week or so are mini-meditations, they’re power isn’t so great and you may begin to feel like they’re not “doing” anything. Some folks have even called these mini-meditations a cop out, adjusting for the sound bite culture or commodification. And they may have a point. While I’m in favor of even the smallest, seemingly meaningless introductions to yoga and meditation I understand why some may be dubious about their gravity and power. Alone, they lack substance. However in my experience, the most powerful things begin and are sustained through hard times by the smallest, seemingly insignificant actions. If all someone does is to practice three mindful breaths at a stop light, I agree their life is unlikely to change immediately (though the first time may feel earth shaking!). But to scoff at three mindful breaths, or the commitment to have them, is to seriously over estimate the amount of time most people are successfully present on the cushion or underestimate the power of desire, intent and awareness. My experience in my own practice and in supporting students’ shows that transformation begins with action just like these. These mini-meditations gain power, depth and meaning once you are practicing some form of sitting meditation nearly every day. Even these specially marked and carved out times for just sitting can begin very minimally - as few as two, three or five minutes, practiced regularly, over time, wear a groove in the psyche (memory traces as well as neural pathways) that makes expansion, connection and depth greater and easier over time. The only “trick” is to start. Once started, these practices - when we don’t use them to flog or judge ourselves, one more yard stick not measured up to - are synergistic. The “trick” is to start where you are, when you are, with all the hustle and bustle of the life you currently have. If you’re going from zero to something, try mini-meditations. Or try two minute scheduled sitting meditations. But just one, for 11 days. Just one. Your practice will grow. It is a practice because it is regular, because it is a clear break from your day, dedicated to presence, awareness and observation. Will it qualify you to apply for that open monastic abbot position? Um, no. But your life is already full to overflowing, right? That’s why you’re starting here. Your practice, while not the most difficult, rigorous or intense is sustainable. And what is sustained sets down roots, yields fruit and grows. What makes mini-meditations “work” is intention, regularity and awareness. The daily-ness or the every-ness: every dish washed, every stop light, every night before bed, every morning after tooth brushing - whatever your “every” is. That’s where the power abides: in your awareness, lavished on your experience, every. Without judgment, without pushing and with regularity. In our ongoing Wednesday "Hip Health: from Hip Pain to Living in Hip Harmony" Series, I thought we'd look at why a home yoga practice can be so healing for individuals with hip pain, injury, healing and recovery.
In Home Yoga Practice (HYP), you are the container for your practice. Which is both a philosophical and a practical advantage. You are the awareness in which your practice is held, so the practice is authentically your own and not a modification of your teacher's practice (which has its place as well). But you also get to choose: Is today a 15 minute Legs Up the Wall day to reduce inflammation and restore your inner cruise? Or is today one on which you want to explore new ways to step forward in Sun Salutations because the standard foot placement isn't working any longer? Is today a day for gentle Crow Walking and Toe Tapping, wrapped up with a Bridge before Savasana? Or do you want to explore range of motion with Figure 8s? Whether you deal with hip pain, another locus of pain or simply want to explore your practice on your own, HYP offers you options to tailor your practice to your life that aren't possible in classes or even private lessons. As little as 5 minutes a day at first can radically change your quality of life, as well as of your yoga on and off the mat. Give it a try; comment below to share your experience and even request suggestions. See you on the mat! When you go to yoga class, you practice yoga, right? Definitely. You follow instructions to arrange your body and coordinate your breath in various poses and pose combinations. The result is relaxation, strength, flexibility, calm and bliss.
Is that the same as having a yoga practice? No. Because to practice is different from having a practice. The practice you do in class is your teacher’s practice, shared with you as a vehicle for learning, relaxing, strengthening, calming, blissing and creating flexibility. What do you gain by having your own practice? And is one better than the other? You gain a meditative mindset, and one is not better than the other. In fact, each relies upon and enhances the other. The difference between a yoga class and a yoga practice is more than freedom, or getting to hold poses for the length of time you like, or following your intuition from pose to pose - all of which have value when balanced with their opposites. The difference between class and practice is the container. In class, your teacher is the container, which can be part of what is so delectable about classes. I often hear, when I ask if there are requests, “Just tell me what to do for the next hour!” I love this, too, when I’m in the hands of a good teacher. The ability to turn over the reins, trust, follow and be led somewhere beautiful is the practice of surrender and has tremendous value. Sometimes it’s just plain luxurious. The complement to surrender is effort. “What?!” you say, “I exert plenty of effort in yoga class, let me tell you!” And, of course, you are right. There is effort in yoga class: there is physical effort as well as your teacher guiding you to attend to all sorts of things, guiding your mental energy and effort. The luscious quality of turning over the reins and being guided, however comes from surrender of a capacity that also must be exercised once you’ve reached a level of ability: the ability to be the container for your own practice. The difference between class and practice is that in practice you are the container for your own experience. Whether you move through a pre-planned sequence given to you or allow a practice to flow from your body through the filter of knowledge, when you practice you are both in the movement and the awareness of the movement. You are both in the moment and the bridge from the last to this to the next moment. You needn’t be taken out of presence to simultaneously be in the moment and holding awareness of the sequence of moments: this is meditation. In Sanskrit, the traditional language of yoga philosophy, the poles of experience are referred to as vairagya and abhyasa: surrender and effort. There is a passive and an active component to experience, to wisdom, to learning - to existence. Abhyasa and vairagya are to be found in every pose, every breath and every moment, and so you’ll find an expression of them while taking a yoga class, following instructions, breathing and dissolving into the moment. But you can take that experience of abhyasa and vairagya in yoga poses, of effort and surrender, and place it in a context wherein the practice itself (with its components of effort and surrender) becomes the surrender to a constant awareness that over arches and contains the poses, the transitions and the breaths and unites them and itself into a true practice. The difference between a class and a practice is not how proficient you are, how much you know about poses, effects or sequencing or how “good” you are. The difference lies in how you relate to that experience: are you the container or do you turn that over to another awareness? Each is good in its element - very good. Each without the other is imbalanced. A home yoga practice is the surest way to cultivate this awareness and to become the container for your own practice - to truly own your practice, so that whether you are at home or in class you are practicing your own practice and not mimicking the teacher’s. While mimicking the teacher’s practice is certainly where we all start, and a place it’s often comforting to return, the next level isn’t defined by a pose or a sequence or any outwardly demonstrable action. You can be able to “do” any pose, even the most “advanced” and “difficult” pose imaginable and not own your practice. Only when you cultivate the ability to meet yourself, mano a mano, on your mat and feel your way from pose to pose, breath to breath, breath to pose and pose to breath - whether from a template or following an inner knowing - only then do you own your practice. Then you can own your practice breathing in Mountain pose and nothing more or your favorite “goal” pose - then you’ll be practicing even when you’re class. Then, you won’t find yourself looking from right to left or sneaking a peak in down dog to see if you’re “doing it right” even when you haven’t seen the pose. You’ll trust your inner sensation - and your teacher to correct you if you need it - and see yourself differently because your vision has shifted from external to internal, your senses have turned inward and your practice is truly your own. Having a yoga practice requires repetition and regularity, but not necessarily a whole lot of time. You can have a home yoga practice of 5-15 minutes a day most days and gain so much of the benefit of a practice that your experience of classes will transform. Showing up for yourself in a practice and being there for yourself - lavishing your most valuable asset, your attention, on yourself - yields dividends on and off the mat. Adapted from a post first published on Yogaguide.wordpress.com, 13 August 2012...
Retreat isn’t about moving away from your life, but toward your core values, personal truth and definite best. While we retreat from distractions and energy drains, we embrace the practices and habits that give us sustenance and allow us to to be fully present in our everyday life. To create your very own retreat, decide on a time and a set of core practices that you know fill your heart. Start with three days, and over time explore seven, ten or more days of disciplined practice, planned silence and reflection. Take the time off work and consider making this your yearly "vacation." The first three days are what I call "roto-rooter days:" you're just flushing out. Sometimes these are difficult days and sleep comes fitfully. You'll notice a shift of lightness and clarity when this time is past. This is why I suggest a minimum of three days - so you get the reset effect. Add time as you feel capable. Mark this time as special: you might begin with a massage, an extra special yoga class or simply a solo hike. Let the people in your everyday life know that during these days you won’t be taking on extra tasks. Put on your auto-responder and turn off your phone. Ditch the computer. Retreat, whether at a luxury yoga resort, a zendo or monastery is a very structured experience. The structure creates a container for practice to deepen and for layers to fall away. The result is liberating; the process can be excruciating, at least at times. The process involves loss, illusion, demons, darkness, light and everything between. The structure usually involves early morning meditations - sometimes day-long - walking, silence, practice of asana, mudra, chant, reading, work practice and light, healthy food, as well as work practice. Referred to as "samu" in Zen Buddhist circles, this honors the rhythms and needs of daily life and provides us training in bringing our meditation into our everyday activities. The idea is to perform the necessary maintenance tasks in a planned, simple and mindful way. This could include food preparation, cleaning your living space, sweeping your practice space and even working in your garden. Retreats can and usefully do include writing, art, contact with the natural world and soaks. Decide what your structure will be and allow it to contain all your activity. Will you rise at 5am for seated meditation? When will you practice asana? Will journalling be a formal part of your retreat practice? Or gardening? When will you have down time? Hold these commitments lightly - meaning both without force, so you don't use them to beat yourself up, but also with great clarity. They are commitments to yourself. In a formal retreat with a teacher, you'll have the support of meeting with your teacher at some point and maybe even guided classes, either meditations or yoga asana practice. If you're doing your own retreat, you need to plan for how these needs can be met. What is your support? Where do you find guidance? I usually pick a set of lectures in a recorded format that I listen to at the middle of each day. Serendipitously, I've always received clues to unravelling my emotional, intellectual and physical knots through these daily talks. Perhaps part of that magic is wrought in the unconscious: I usually start looking for the teacher and talks I'll take with me on retreat about 6 weeks prior. When I choose my focus, this sets a tone and theme and primes the pump for what arises, and how it presents itself. In years past, I've used series of Upaya's DharmaPodcasts, unparalleled for the teaching, depth and wisdom (I recommend sending a donation when you do so, as a way of honoring the teachings.) Richard Freeman's Yoga Matrix was another year's touchstone. Pema Chodron's work is full of illumination as is Reginald Ray's. Journalling in conjunction with listening can create a powerful conversation with your inner teacher. Do note, especially in this age of downloads, these often require a greater commitment not to use the electronic devices you access the talks on for more distracting activities. It can be so tempting to use the computer or smart phone to listen to your daily dharma teaching... but then, it's just a click to check and see what's in the email. Or facebook. Has anyone left me message? Does anyone miss me? What's going on out there? Decide in advance your strategy for avoiding or short circuiting these distractions. Are you going to remove the apps temporarily? Do you have a dedicated ipod? Can you use only CDs? Design how you will avoid the inevitable distractions. On my retreat trips, I go as far away from civilization as I can get in the contiguous 48… and recently, I was able to get cell service. I’ve learned that I have to turn the phone off and make it inaccessible to maintain my chosen discipline. If I bring my computer for writing, I disable the wi-fi. The point is to go inward, cultivate silence and listen for what comes from deep within. Change your routine and surroundings. Make the house extra neat and clean, enlist a family member to have quiet coffee or tea with you in the morning. Set your space up with the books you want and any other resources you desire: yoga mats, blocks, blankets, bolsters, DVDs or streaming videos, special bath salts. Make sure the cupboards are stocked with food that will make you feel good. You might decide to eat lightly during this time. Create your schedule and then when the day comes and you've turned all the electronics off, meet yourself at the appointed place and time over and over again. Listen. How do you connect with your core truths and self? A retreat – whether on your own or joining a planned event – is a great way to reset and restore your factory settings. Do you remember what those are? Find out! Treat yourself to your own retreat. More ideas and considerations for self retreat in this guest post on Tracy Weber's WholeLifeYoga.com blog! "We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled; the trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over an let the beautiful stuff out." ~Ray Bradbury
Imagine an hour long vacation that fills your well with fresh, new, clear energy. That's restorative yoga class. Someone today remarked that yoga would never be the same without someone supporting them completely in every pose, taking them on a renewing meditation journey and even a little release in final supported twist. When and how do you include restorative yoga in your life? Comment below and share your experience and favorite modifications! |
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